The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced today that five major brokerage firms have agreed to pay fines totaling $2.4 million for supervision violations and improper mutual fund sales to thousands of investors. These firms must take remedial steps to prevent such actions in the future and pay amounts estimated…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is charging stockbroker John Mullins with misappropriating nearly $400,000 from an elderly widow and her charitable foundation. Esther Weil, a 97-year-old widow, died earlier this month. She was living in a nursing home. Mullins was her stockbroker for over 20 years. Mullins allegedly tried to…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) have announced a new group initiative to protect senior investors from becoming the victims of investment scams. SEC, NASAA, and FINRA will work with investment advisers and broker-dealer companies to…
Thanks to the consolidation of NYSE and NASD into the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), security firms registered in the United States will now content with fewer regulatory tests. FINRA officials announced the decrease in the number of examinations. Currently, a lot of firms are required to take a sales…
Oppenheimer & Co. says it will pay a $1 million fine to settle charges by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority that it turned in false information regarding mutual fund breakpoints. The company also has agreed to submit to having an independent consultant conduct an audit regarding how Oppenheimer handles regulatory…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have introduced an initiative that will assist broker-dealer chief compliance officers in maintaining compliance controls that work, creating effective communications about compliance risks, and implementing solid compliance programs at brokerage firms. Regional and national seminars will be…
FINRA enforcement chief Susan Merrill announced at a Practising Law Institute Gathering on “Coping with Dealer/Broker Regulation and Enforcement” that the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority rulebook, which consolidates NASD and NYSE Rules might not be completed until the end of 2008 or even into 2009. Merrill said that the consolidation…
FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) is warning investors to look out for “pump-and-dump” scams focusing on energy stocks. FINRA says that these scams involve energy stocks that are thinly traded issues from companies that are not well known. In the alert that it issued on October 23, FINRA says that…
A recent study conducted by the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association indicates that securities arbitrators frequently agree to erase past settlements that were paid to investors from brokers’ records. Removing brokers’ settlement payments from their histories could cause future investors to not find out about the brokers’ past misconduct. The…
The National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) recently absorbed the regulatory unit of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and changed its name to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Yet nothing has really changed. The primary regulator of securities brokerage firms industry is run solely by … brokerage firms.…